Rotary internal combustion engine



March 6, 1934. .1. DEDIEU ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed April6, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 JDeda'eap E? March 6, 1934- J. EDU-:u 1,950,228

Y Rolf-ARY INTERNAL COHBUSTION ENGINE Filed April 6, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet2 March 6, 1934. J, DEDlEU ROTARY INTERNAL COIBUSTION 'ENGINE 4Smm-sheet Y 3' Filed April 6. 1931 Much 6, 1934 J. mapa-:u 1,950,228

ROTARY INTERNAL COII'BUSTION ENGINE Filed April 6, 1931 l 4 Sheets-Sheet4 reference to the first.

separate position by a shoulder 5a formed on the said shaft.

Each of the pistons 6 is susceptible of -a certain angular movement withreference to the shaft 5, by oscillation about the Journal 9. In orderto provide for the lengthening of the piston rod 7 when the axle 8 ofthe piston becomes separated from the plane passing through the axisofthe shaft 5 and the axis of the journal 9, a certainy clearance is.provided between the axle 8 and the end of the piston ro'cl. For thispurpose (Figs. 3 and 4) the axle 8 has a square cross section and ismounted in a ring 11 about which the end 7a of the piston rod 7 canrotate; said ring has an aperture 11a which is lengthened towards the'end of the piston rod, in order to allow the axle 8 to slide in theradial direction.

Due to the clearance which is thus allowed in the mounting of thepistons 6 upon the ends of the piston rods, said pistons, under theaction of the centrifugal force which is freely exercised upon them,would tend to produce anexcessive friction upon the periphery of thetorus, thus resulting in a premature wear of the latter and of thecorresponding part of the pistons. In order to obviate this drawback,the interior of each piston-which is hollow and is closed by a screwedplate 'Ba--contains a centripetal cornpensator for counterbalancing theaction of the centrifugal force. This device comprises a heavy mass 12which is slidable upon the end of the piston rod 7 and makes contactwith the ends of two oscillating levers 13a and 13b which are pivoted tothe end of the piston rod 7a by means of axles 14a and 14h; said leversalso bear upon the axle 8. Under the action of the centrifugal force,the mass 12 tends to move towards the periphery of the torus l, and itexercises pressure upon the ends of said levers which tend to pivot upontheir axles and to press in the contrary direction against the axle 8.Ii' the weight of the mass l2 has a certain relation to the weight ofthe piston 6 (for instance M3), and if the lengths of the levers 13a and13b are in the inverse ratio (3:1) the centripetal action exercised bysaid levers upon the axle 8 will be practically the equivalent of thecentrifugal action on the piston, and will counteract the effects of thelatter.

The piston rods 7 (Figs. 5 to 7) have on the side next their axles 9 alateral appendage 7a of forked shape, enabling them to fit into oneanother, and upon the branches of the fork are mounted two respectiverollers 15a and 15b, and two rollers 16a and 1Gb which are eccentricwith Surrounding the rotor plates 10a and 10b are two rings 17a and 17h,which rings are formed with grooves 18a and 18h, with the rollers 15aand 16a and 15b and 16h operating in these grooves respectively. Theouter edge 19 vo1" each groove (Fig. 8) has al general circular outline,but it has at regular intervals the ramps 20 of special outline, whichare three in number in this case. vThe inner edge 21 of each groove hasa circular outline concentric with the edge 19 with recesses 22 ofspecial form corresponding to the ramps 20.. The two cams 19--21 whichare thus formed in each of the rings 17a-17h serve as roller races, onebeing used for the rollers 15a-15b and the other for the rollers16a-16h, andl they are arranged as will be further explained, in orderto assure three power-producing cycles for' each working chamber formedbetween two successive pistons, per revolution of the shaft 5.

In the wall of the torus 1 are formed the ports 23 spaced at 120 apartand adapted to admit the fuel mixture; on the periphery of the torus, atthe proper points, are provided three exhaust conduits 24. Threespark-plugs 25 are mounted at the periphery.

The working chambers in the interior of the torus are made leakless byelastic packing members 26 which are mounted 'in the known manner uponeach piston. In a middle groove lcin the torus in which the piston rods7 are slidable, are packing members 27 which are mounted between thepiston rods and consist of torus-shaped segments whose cross-sectioncorresponds to that of the groove 1c; they are recessed, and have intheir middle part a transverse partition 27a carrying two projections27h serving to guide and support two springs 28 which bear at the otherend upon the piston rod 7, around projections 7b provided on the latter.Said springs 28 maintain the packing member 27 in the axis of the spacebetween two consecutive piston rods, while permitting the said rods tooscillate. The elasticity of the said packing is assured by alongitudinal slot 27C.

The operation of the engine is as follows:

At the end of the suction stroke, each work-A ing chamber has itsmaximum volume. If the engine is supposed to rotate lin the direction ofthe arrow F, the piston which bounds this chamber in the rear will thenbe in its middle position,`

that is, its axis 8, the axis 9 of the end of the 'piston rod and theaxis of the shaft 5 will be in line. The rollers 15a- 15b and 16a-16h ofthe rod 7 of said piston will now roll upon the circular parts of thecams 19-21. When the rollers come upon the ramps 20-22, an oscillationis given to the piston rod 7 about its axis 9 in the direction of thearrow f, and the motion of the piston is accelerated; said pistonapproaches the piston immediately preceding it, thus compressing thefuel mixture contained in the working chamber in front ofit and causinga suction in the chamber in its rear. The end of the compression strokewill practically take place when the rollers 15a-15b and 16a-1Gb attainthe point of lowest depression of the ring`22. At this time the workingchamber is adjacent one ofthe spark-plugs 25, and the ignition andexplosion now takes place. Such a position for the pistons 6A and 6B isshown in Fig. 1.

Due to the expansion, the front piston 6B is driven in the direction ofrotation of the driving shaft'. Since the rollers 15a-15b and 16a-1Gb ofits rod 7 are now engagedV upon the circular part of the cams 19 and 21,said'piston cannot move with reference to the shaft 5, and it impartsthe whole of its power to the latter. The rear piston 6A has suchposition that the ro'lers of its rod are engaged upon the secondinclined parts of the ramps 20-22, and thus it is prevented fromreturning to the rear by the effect of the reaction. The effect of thisreaction also tends to turn the rod 7 of the piston 6A about the,rollers 15a- 15b and 16a-16h, in such manner that the reaction of theend of the piston rod 9 will be exercised upon the shaft 5 in thedirection of the driving motion. Under the effect of the compressionwhich is exercised at this time in the chamber in its rear, the piston6A continues to move forward,'and the rollers of its rod attain thecircularpart of their race. The piston 6A is thus in the position whichwas oc- :,csasss cupied by the piston 6B, and is thus to impart adriving effort to the shaft under the Q action of the expansion whichis. about to take place in its rear; the piston 6c .which follows it hasnow assumed the position which it occupied before, having performed workofV compression. The chamber between the pistons 6c and yilA is nowadjacent the spark-plug 25, and the cycle of operations recommences.

These effects take place successively for each working chamber incoincidence with each spark-plug 25, and thus in the present case therewill be a\ total o! 21 explosions per revolutionof theshaft 25, that is,21 power strokes. The outline ofthe cams 19-21 is such that themovements of the pistons will produce in each working chamber theproperly regulated phases of the four-stroke cycle.

Figures 9, 10 and 11 show clearly the successive positions occupied bytwo pistons during the working cycle. In Figure 9, the rollers 15a and16a corresponding to the ilrst pistony 6, i. e. the

v leading piston in the vdirection of rotation, turn in acircular path19-21 of the cam groove 18a and as a result tins irst piston occupiesitsreduced to the minimum at a point correspondlng to an ignitionelement 25 which serves to ignite the combustible mixture. As therotation continues the rollers 15a and lds oi the nrst piston continueto turn in the circular groove le-2i, while the rollers 15a, los ci thesecond piston leave the part 20-22 of the com groove and enter the part19-21. The second piston is, therefore, relatively retarded, the spaceloetween the two `pistons is increased, provi ior expansion oi' theigniting m According to Figure li), the @rst piston has passed theexhaust passage 2t and the burnt gases exhaust through this passage. isthe pistonsadvance, the inlet port 23 is uncovered and the rollers 15aand 16o of the drst piston enter the part 20--22 of the cam groove 18o,as

4in Figure il. The ilrst piston is, therefore, ac-

celerated in movement relative to the second piston, the space betweenthe two pistons increased, and the combustible mixture drawn in throughthe inlet 23. As the second piston reaches the inlet port, the rollers15a and 16a of the ilrst piston enter the portion 19-21 of the camgroove 18a and the rollers 15a and 16a oi the second piston enter theodset portion 2o-22 of such cem groove. The space between the pistonsis, therefore, again reducedto a minimum, as indicated in Figure 9,producing the compression A of the combustible mixture, which incompressed form reaches the ignition device 25 lor ignition. A completecycle has thus been carried out and,

' o! course, is continuously repead.

As above stated, the construction of the engine may be varied by usnig adierent number of pistons and oi ignition devices, and-oi admission andexhaust ports upon the periphery or the torus.` The outline of the camswill obviously depend upon these conditions. Anabsolutesynchronisniwillbeobtainedinalicasesbydistributing the cycles accordingto angles which are equal at the centre.

"llhe apparatus according to the said invention is susceptible of allsuitable modifications as concerns the form of the several parts of its-construction, and for instance, the generatrix loi! the torus mayconsist of any suitable closed curve.

I claim: Y I 1. A means for counterbalancing the centrifugal torceacting on' pistons operating in a cylinder.

of toric form including 1evers` forming theconnecting rods oi thepistons, connections between the levers and pistons to permit limitedrelative radial play, members carried by the piston connected ends o!the angle levers and iniluenced in the relative movement between thepistons and said angle levers, and a weight slidable on the angle leverand iniiuenced in the movement of said members under the centrifugalmovement of the piston to counteract such centrifugal movement.

2. Ina rotary engine ol? the type described, a

piston having a transverse axis, an angle lever forming the connectingrod for the piston and cooperating with said axis, the cooperation ofthe angle lever and piston permitting relative movement oi the pistonand angle lever, members pivotally carried by the angle lever with theirsimilar ends bearing on the axis, said members having their oppositeends extended beyond the` angle lever, and a weight slidable on theangle lever and engaged and operated by said opposite ends oi themembers in the relative movement oi the piston and angle lever, theeffect ci the weight on the piston and angle lever serving to-substantially counteract the centrifugal force of the piston.

3. in internal combustion engine comprising a cylinder in the form of ahollow torus provided "with intake and exhaust ports and iring' means,

pistons movable in said cylinder, said pistons loeing independent fromone another, a shaft arranged at the axis of the torus, a rotor mountedon the shaft, angle ylevers pivoted to said rotor f and having arelative sliding com'lectonV with the pistons, rings surrounding therotor, 'cani grooves in said rings, said cam grooves comprising circularportions concentric with the shaft of the engine and inwardly curvedportions, s. pair of rollers on each side of said angle levers, one

roller oi each pair rolling on the outer wall of a said slot between thelevers, and springs arranged between each sealing member/and. theadjacent levers.

5. An internal combustion engine as dened in claim 3, wherein therollers are arranged in relatively oiIset eccentric relation.

